Blackbeard’s Treasure Map being Episode 1

[GreenMonkeys#1]

This has been puzzling me for years and I want to know what the others think about this. I still don’t know why Blackbeard’s Treasure Map is supposed to be Episode 1 of the show. There are many things that support and also many things that contradict this statement. We obviously know that Lawrence of Arabia’s Headdress was the first aired episode, but it was one of the last episodes taped in Season 1 so it is technically not episode 1 in terms production. The editing of the episode altogether is pretty bad and there was a lot of confusion by Sabrina in the Temple (still one of the worst to go in due to being slow and pretty much waving the white flag early). Also there were no full credits here. That part might suggest it’s the first episode. The part of me suggesting that it wasn’t the first is because it appeared to be filmed on the same day as all other S1L5 runs were on (Ponce de Leon, Jean Lafitte, Delphi, & Leonardo Da Vinci) and had the same moat as those episodes (tubes). Meanwhile, the moat for Belshazzar, Galileo, and Wild Bill Hickok were different (rafts). The run for Galileo’s Cannonball was probably the first run ever to be completed since Kirk didn’t sound as energetic as he would be later on, and asking about the strategy Jennifer and Jammin Jon were going to use (he doesn’t do that in any other episode that I can think off). Now Belshazzar’s run was postponed to the S1L5 day for some reason which was the same layout Blackbeard had. So that possible lists 3 candidates for real episode 1: Blackbeard, Belshazzar, and Galileo.


What do you think?

[The Red Jaguars]

I think the best explanation would be that Blackbeard was originally schedule to be taped as a part of the S1L1 episode, but was postponed to a later date most likely due to time restrictions. Blackbeard is essentially only "Episode 1" on paper. There's no way that this episode was taped as a separate Pilot episode like past forum members use to state. This episode was most definitely taped with the other S1L5 episodes for a few reasons:

1.) The moat rejects from Blackbeard return again in the Leonardo Da Vinci episode.

2.) The production team and Kirk don't sound awkward and confused like in S1L1.

3.) The moat and temple games in Blackbeard are the same as the other S1L5 episodes.


With that being said, there's evidence that Blackbeard was not originally intended to be a S1L5 episode and was probably shoehorned into that layout at the last minute. First off, the editing in this episode is atrocious. During the moat, there's no video tape of the intern like the other S1 moats. Also, the camerawork during the temple run was shoddy and there were no credits at the end of the episode. Most likely because the episode was rushed and they didn't have time to clean it up. Also, the fact that Belshazzar and Blackbeard's temple run use the same temple layout could be the reason why the producers shoved Blackbeard into S1L5.

To answer your other question, Belshazzar was definitely the first episode produced. In one of Kirk Fogg's interviews, he states that the first ever episode took 18 hours to tape. This would make sense if it was the Belshazzar episode because they would have to postpone the temple run due to unusually long taping time. Galileo was probably the first TEMPLE RUN produced since the Belshazzar run had to be postponed. It also explains the weird awkwardness during the temple run. Also, Jennifer stated during her interview that the Mine Shaft elevator crapped out for Jammin John and they had to retape part of that run. PS: Galileo wasn't the only run where Kirk asked for the team's strategy. He also did it in some earlier S1 runs like Lost Gold Mine, Golden Ship, Lost Hammer, and Sultan Saladin.

Long story short, Blackbeard was probably originally planned to be "Episode 1" but due to time constraints they had to postpone it to a later date. But they never changed the episode number on the official roster since it was planned to be part of the first production day. This is my take on it.

[GreenMonkeys#1]

So if we put things altogether, should it be considered episode 17 then? There would’ve been 15 episodes aired during the layouts S1L1-S1L4 plus Belshazzar which would be 16 so that would narrow it down to having this be 1 or 17.


If Belshazzar was the episode that took 18 hours to film, it would make sense given the run was postponed to the 5th day. The first day probably was Belshazzar Cup/Galileo/Wild Bill Hickok. My theory is that something happened early on in this run that caused taping to be interrupted (I.e. doors not opening at all from pit or a number of problems that made the run impossible to air in one segment.) We know from Galileo’s Cannonball that the Mineshaft elevator had a problem and they had to restart the run from that point. If something like that happened in Belshazzar but it happened repeatedly, then it probably made Katherine and Sean tired and would’ve been unfair to do a full 3:00 temple run so they postponed it to a later day. Of course that run had its fair share of problems too.


Dead Man’s Hand run also had it’s problems too, one in which being that the Throne room early on was poorly lit and the door to the Swamp didn’t open all the way so Sara and Joshua didn’t glance enough before going up the central shaft which ended up being a dead end. If you listen closely a sound occurs at 18 seconds when Sara steps on the Throne climbing down the ladder suggesting a door opening (Swamp door possibly being more opened or production team alerting Sara the door is open). You may have recalled that the doors from the Swamp to the Tomb of Ancient Kings didn’t open either which forced the team to go up to the Room of Golden Idols but they ran out of time. That passage was only used once that entire season (Mitchell did it from above anyway) and who knows if it would’ve worked.


That day had a lot of problems for it being the first day, but where Blackbeard fits in with these 3 episodes or the ones with layout 5 is not answered completely with comparing episodes.

[The Red Jaguars]

The producers probably have some kind of official "episode roster" that determines when each episode will be scheduled. Blackbeard was probably "Episode 1" on the episode roster and when the producers realized they couldn't tape it as part of S1L1, they moved the episode to S1L5. But they never changed the episode number on the "episode roster" since it was originally planned to be "Episode 1", but was postponed. And when they submit their roster to the television stations, they kept Blackbeard as "Episode 1". That's the best explanation I can come up with. It would be nice to  interview Sabrina and James about their experience with this episode and whether their episode was really postponed or not.

I'm not really sure if the Belshazzar temple run was ever taped in S1L1. I always felt they postponed the temple run altogether because of how much time they spent taping the earlier rounds. If the temple run was really taped in S1L1 originally, then it would be a big inconvenience for Katherine and Ron to have to come back another date just to finish their run. Too bad their temple run was postponed just for them to end up with a hot mess of a layout in a later temple layout. But it's also possible they did try to tape their temple run in S1L1 originally too, but were time barred due to first production day quirks. As you mentioned, the Galileo and Dead Man's Hand layouts were messed up too. Maybe one of these days we will get a chance to interview the Belshazzar kids.

[Legends Explorer Alec]

So if we put things altogether, should it be considered episode 17 then? There would’ve been 15 episodes aired during the layouts S1L1-S1L4 plus Belshazzar which would be 16 so that would narrow it down to having this be 1 or 17.

Here's the completion order for episodes in Layouts 1-5 in Season 1:
01. Galileo's Cannonball
02. Wild Bill Hickok and the Dead Man's Hand
03. John Henry's Lost Hammer
04. The Golden Cricket Cage of Khan
05. Elizabeth the First's Golden Ship
06. John Sutter and the Map to the Lost Gold Mine
07. The Star of Sultan Saladin
08. The Keys to the Alhambra
09. The Helmet of Genghis Khan
10. The Trojan Horseshoe
11. The Pendant of Kamehameha
12. The Lost Logbooks of Magellan
13. The Moccasins of Geronimo
14. Henry the Eighth's Great Seal
15. The Lucky Pot-Bellied Pig of Amelia Earhart
16. The Golden Cup of Belshazzar
17. Ponce de León and the Lost Fountain of Youth
18. The Treasure Map of Jean Lafitte
19. Blackbeard's Treasure Map
20. The Oracle Bowl of Delphi
21. The Paintbrush of Leonardo da Vinci

[GreenMonkeys#1]

If the temple run was really taped in S1L1 originally, then it would be a big inconvenience for Katherine and Ron to have to come back another date just to finish their run.

Sean was Katherine’s partner here. Ron should never be welcome near the Temple again.